1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ice making machine, more particularly to an improvement of a housing assembly of the ice mating machine.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Illustrated in FIG. 18 is a conventional automatic ice making machine of the open-cell type which includes a box-type housing 1 composed of a pair of side wall panels 1a integrally formed with front and rear wall panels 1c and 1b, a water storage tank 2 mounted to the bottom of housing 1, a sprinkler 3 mounted on the bottom plate of housing 1 for spouting ice making water from its nozzles 3a, and a plurality of ice making cell casings 4b mounted within an ice making chamber 4 formed in an upper portion of housing 1. An inclined ice chute 6 is placed in the interior of housing 1, and a shutter 7 is suspended from the front wall panel 1c of housing 1 at a lower side of the ice chute 6.
A cooling pipe 5 meanderingly mounted on an upper plate 4a of ice making chamber 4 is connected to a refrigerant conduit 10 to be supplied with refrigerant from a freezing circuit including a compressor 11, a condenser 12 cooled by a cooling fan 13, a dehydrator 14 and an expansion valve 15. In the freezing circuit, a hot-gas valve 16 is provided in parallel with the condenser 12, dehydrator 14 and expansion valve 15. When the freezing circuit is activated in a condition where the hot-gas valve has been closed, the ice making chamber 4 is cooled by the refrigerant supplied into the cooling pipe 5 from the freezing circuit. When the expansion valve 15 is closed while the hot-gas valve 16 is being opened, the refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 11 and supplied as hot-gas into the cooling pipe 5.
The ice making water W in water storage tank 2 is supplied into the sprinkler 3 by operation of a water pump (not shown), spouted upward from each nozzle 3a through openings of ice chute 6 in the form of a lattice and brought into contact with the internal surface of each ice making cell casing 4b cooled by the refrigerant supplied from the freezing circuit. Thus, the ice making water is party frozen in each cell casing 4b, and a remainder of the water is returned into the water storage tank 2. The ice cubes formed in the cell casings 4b are enlarged in the course of lapse of a time. When the hot-gas is supplied into the cooling pipe 5 in a condition where the cell casings 4b have been filled with the ice cubes, the ice making chamber 4 is heated by the hot-gas to release the ice cubes from cell casings 4b, and the ice cubes are received by the inclined chute 6 and slip downward on the ice chute 6 to open the shutter 7. Thus, the ice cubes are delivered into an ice storage cabinet (not shown) through the shutter 7.
To manufacture ice making machines of this type in various sizes, it is required to prepare the housing, water storage tank, sprinkler and ice chute in different sizes in accordance with the ice making performance of the machine. Particularly, as the housing is composed of molding parts complicated in construction, the preparation molding dies for each ice making machine causes an increase of the manufacturing cost.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an ice making machine of the open-cell type the housing of which can be manufactured at a low cost and assembled in a simple manner.
According to the present invention, the object is accomplished by providing an ice making machine of the open-cell type including a box-type housing, a water storage tank mounted to the bottom of the housing, a sprinkler mounted within the bottom portion of the housing and having a plurality of nozzles for spouting upward ice making water supplied from the water storage tank, and a plurality of ice making cell casings mounted within an ice making chamber formed in an upper portion of the housing and located above the nozzles of the sprinkler to be supplied with the ice making water spouted therefrom, wherein the box-type housing is composed of a pair of spaced side wall panels and front and rear wall panels jointed at their opposite side ends to front and rear end portions of the side wall panels respectively.
In a practical embodiment of the present invention, the side wall panels each are integrally formed with a pair of parallel vertical flanges at their front and rear end portions, wherein the front and rear wall panels are inserted into each vertical slit formed in the vertical flanges at their opposite side ends and fixedly retained in place by engagement with the vertical flanges. In this embodiment, it is preferable that the vertical flanges of the side wall panels each are formed with a latch portion which is located within vertical slit and engaged with a hole formed in each side end portion of the front and rear wall panels.
In another practical embodiment of the present invention, the front and rear wall panels each are integrally formed with a pair of parallel vertical flanges at their opposite side ends, wherein the side wall panels are inserted into each vertical slit formed in the vertical flanges at their front and rear ends and fixedly retained in place by engagement with the vertical flanges. In this embodiment, it is preferable that the vertical flanges of the front and rear wall panels each are formed with a latch portion which is located within the vertical slit and engaged with each hole formed in the front and rear portions of the side wall panels.